Airbus Demonstrates "Eco-Friendly" Technology

By Staff Writer | July 7, 2015

Airbus Helicopters has unveiled a technology demonstrator to showcase its innovations in eco-friendly helicopter design. The "Bluecopter" demonstrator, publicly unveiled today in Donauwörth, Germany, is based on one of the company's light medium twin-engine helicopters. Marius Bebesel, the program manager, says Bluecopter has met the company's goals of "decreasing fuel consumption by as much as 40 percent, significantly reducing CO2 emissions, and lowering noise to approximately 10 decibel effective perceived noise (EPNdB) below ICAO noise certification limits, while raising the maximum payload and the passenger comfort.” The featured technology, which Airbus says can be applied across its entire product line, includes improvements to the main rotor and tail rotor systems, airframe and power plant, as well as boasting an environmentally-friendly, water-based paint scheme.